1.

1 Verb be (I/you)

1 We use the verb be to say our name, e.g. I’m Peter.

Subject be
Positive I am/’m María.
You are/’re Paul.
Negative I am not/’m not Sarah.
You are not/aren’t/’re not John.
2 We also use the verb be with here.
1 I’m here to study.
2 You aren’t here on holiday, you’re here on business.

3 We use contractions in positive and negative sentences.

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 1.1 Verb be (I/you)

1 We do not use contractions in questions and positive short answers with be.

be subject Short answers (+) Short answers (-)

Are you Paul? Yes, I am. No, I am not/No, I’m not.

Are you here on holiday? Yes, I am. No, I am not/No, I’m not.

2 We can use contractions in negative short answers.

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 1.2 Verb be (we/you)

1 We use the verb be to talk about where we are from.

Subject be

Positive We are/’re from Spain.

You are/’re from Japan.

Negative We are not/’re not/aren’t from France.

You are not/’re not/aren’t from Mexico.

2 We use contractions in positive and negative sentences.

© Oxford University Press

 1.2 Verb be (we/you)
1 We do not use contractions in questions and positive short answers with be.

be subject Short answers (+) Short answers (-)

No, we are not.

Are you from Madrid? Yes, we are. No, we’re not.
No, we aren’t.

No, we are not.

Are you here on holiday? Yes, we are. No, we’re not.
No, we aren’t.

2 We only use contractions in negative short answers.

• be
subject
• be
• subject
© Oxford University Press
1.3 Question words

1 We use different question words for different types of information.

For questions about … we use …

people or things What What is your name?
places Where Where are you from?
how we do things How How do you spell your last name?

2 We make Wh- questions with: What/Where/How + be (is/are) + subject.

Where are you from?

3 We only use contractions with is in Wh- questions.

What is – What’s What are – What’re

How is – How’s How are – How’re
Where is – Where’s Where are – Where’re © Oxford University Press